No change. The lake in the original is the famous Mana Sarovar lake in Tibet. The Swan at the end repeats this couplet:—
Bit chhoto, chit saugun, bit men chit na samáe:
So murak binsat sadan, jirni bakuli nariyar kháe.
("Desire is one thing, capacity is another. The desire exceeds the power. Thus die the foolish, as did the Paddy-bird when she tried to eat the cocoa-nut.")
The Paddy-bird is the Bagla, or Bagula, a sort of small heron (Ardea torra), which frequents the banks of ponds and catches little fish and frogs. In folk-lore, from its quaint appearance, it is the type of demure cunning, and a sanctimonious rogue ascetic is often compared to it.
Compare a similar tale of a crane: Jātaka, No. 236 (Cambridge translation, ii. 161).
41.—[What is a Man?]
Told by Shibbá Sinh Gaur, Brahman, resident in
Saharanpur, N.W.P.
No change, except that the order of the animals is Elephant, Camel, Ox.
Another version makes the man a carpenter—He goes away and makes a cage—Induces the Lion to enter—Leaves him to starve.
The complaints of the animals against men form the subject of a very amusing Hindustani book derived from the Persian, the Akhwán-us-safa.
